Mark Conlin / Getty Images

huffingtonpost.com - by Dominique Mosbergen - February 18, 2014

Last week, a study published in the Feb. 14 issue of Science revealed the Deepwater Horizon disaster may have caused serious damage to the hearts of tuna and other animals affected by the spill.

Indeed, scientists behind the new study say their findings may have implications on mammal hearts, including those of humans.

Since PAHs can also be found in coal tar, air pollution and stormwater runoff from land, the risk to humans and other animals is potentially tremendous, the scientists say.

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Science - Crude Oil Impairs Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Fish

Photo by John Carroll

blogs.pjstar.com - by John A. Carroll, MD -  www.haitianhearts.org - February 18, 2014

The other day I read an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from February 23, 2014 entitled “Undocumented Injustice? Medical Repatriation and the Ends of Health Care”.

This article made me think of OSF in Peoria and I will explain why.

Medical repatriation is defined as “the transfer of undocumented patients in need of chronic care to their country of origin.”

The NEJM article begins with a story:

Traffic moves slowly along Wade Avenue in Raleigh on February 12. Motorists were encouraged to stay off roads.  Lance King / Getty Images

cnn.com - by Ed Payne - February 13, 2014

In the nation's capital, agencies shuttered their doors as the area got up to 11 inches of snow.

The snowfall in Philadelphia was expected to reach 11 inches, while New Yorkers were experiencing what probably will be 15 inches of snow.

In the South, states sprang into cleanup mode as power outages mounted and hundreds of thousands of customers shivered through a cold, dark night.

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whitehouse.gov - nytimes.com - by Coral Davenport - February 5, 2014

WASHINGTON — On the heels of the Senate’s passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration announced the creation of seven regional “climate hubs” on Wednesday to help farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods.

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(ALSO SEE - USDA’s Climate Hubs: Providing Targeted Solutions to Modern Challenges)

Source: Ceres

From Texas to California, drilling for oil and gas is using billions of gallons of water in the country's most drought-prone areas

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH REPORT - Hydraulic Fracturing & Water Stress: Water Demand by the Numbers
(85 page .PDF report)

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg - February 5, 2014

America's oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found.

huffingtonpost.com - by Kate Sheppard - February 5, 2014

WASHINGTON – Between 50,000 and 82,000 tons of coal ash flowed into North Carolina's Dan River on Sunday, prompting renewed calls for long-delayed federal rules on the disposal of coal waste.

The ash and water mixture spilled when a stormwater pipe broke at Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station, a plant that is no longer in operation in Rockingham County, N.C.

The slurry from coal ash can contain potentially toxic elements like arsenic, mercury and lead.

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At Houston Methodist Hospital, Celest Powell, 20, receives an IV saline solution that helps keep patients hydrated.

houstonchronicle.com - by Lora Hines - February 6, 2014

A severe flu season may have contributed to tightened supplies of intravenous saline solution, those ubiquitous bags that hospitals use by the thousands every day to keep patients hydrated and IVs flowing smoothly. . .

Late last year, three manufacturers of intravenous saline solutions, particularly sodium chloride, began alerting hospitals nationwide about shortages. At least one blamed the flu, which can leave patients dangerously dehydrated and in need of hospital care.

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Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010: BP's bill keeps rising. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Latest update on continuing costs of Macondo blowout comes as oil firm reports fall in quarterly and yearly profits

theguardian.com - by Terry Macalister - February 4, 2014

BP has been forced to set aside an extra $200m (£123m) for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, bringing the bill so far to $42.7bn.

The final figure could be far higher, however, as the latest tally does not take account of additional provisions for economic loss claims from a further legal settlement BP has made, the group said. BP is also waiting for a final US court decision over whether it was considered grossly negligent for the Deepwater Horizon accident.

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Illustration by Victor Juhasz

While Obama talks of putting America on the path to a clean, green future, we're flooding world markets with cheap, high carbon fuels

rollingstone.com - by Tim Dickinson - February 3, 2014

. . . America's oil and coal corporations are racing to position the country as the planet's dirty-energy dealer – supplying the developing world with cut-rate, high-polluting, climate-damaging fuels. Much like tobacco companies did in the 1990s – when new taxes, regulations and rising consumer awareness undercut domestic demand – Big Carbon is turning to lucrative new markets in booming Asian economies where regulations are looser. Worse, the White House has quietly championed this dirty-energy trade.

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huffingtonpost.com - by Jeffrey Sachs - February 3, 2014

CLICK HERE - Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL Project - Executive Summary January 2014 (44 page .PDF report)

The new State Department Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone Pipeline does three things. First, it signals a greater likelihood that the pipeline project will be approved later this year by the administration. Second, it vividly illustrates the depth of confusion of US climate change policy. Third, it self-portrays the US Government as a helpless bystander to climate calamity.

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Image: The Phoenix home of David Leeper, a Republican who has installed solar panels on his roof. Samantha Sais for The New York Times

nytimes.com - January 25th, 2014 - John Schwartz

In conservative politics, solar power is often dismissed as an affectation, part of a liberal agenda to funnel money to “solar cronies” of the Obama administration and further the “global warming hoax.”

So one would not expect to see Barry Goldwater Jr., the very picture of modern conservatism and son of the 1964 Republican nominee for president, arguing passionately on behalf of solar energy customers. But there he was last fall, very publicly opposing a push by Arizona’s biggest utility to charge as much as $100 a month to people who put solar panels on their roofs.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Cotton harvesting in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana on Oct. 10, 2013. The farm bill governs farm subsidies, which encourages planting of soybeans, cotton and other crops.  Photographer: Ty Wright/Bloomberg

bloomberg.com - by Alan Bjerga - January 29, 2014

The U.S. House passed and sent the Senate a much-delayed bill to set agricultural policy for five years, as rural Republicans and urban Democrats overcame objections about farm subsidies and food-stamp cuts.

. . . The bill would cut food-stamp spending by $8.6 billion over 10 years, though additions to other programs bring nutrition-aid cuts down to $8 billion -- one-fifth of the $40 billion sought by Republicans and fought by Democrats and food retailers. The reduction would equal about 1 percent of the program’s record $79.6 billion in spending for the budget year that ended Sept. 30.

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reuters.com- by Ernest Scheyder - January 30, 2014

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), the world's largest publicly traded oil company by market value, posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as it failed to offset declining production but spent heavily to find fresh reserves.

The problem of declining production at legacy oil and natural gas wells has become endemic for multinational energy groups, which have tried to offset the trend by launching massive and risky exploration projects.

The California Air Resources Board wants cities to compete in fighting climate change by signing up residents to log actions they are taking to cut carbon emissions. Above, bicyclists during a morning commute on Market Street in San Francisco. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

latimes.com - by Tony Barboza - January 30, 2014

The California Air Resources Board thinks a little friendly competition might inspire Californians to scale back their driving, cut electricity use and take other steps to reduce carbon emissions.

The agency on Thursday announced a second round of the CoolCalifornia City Challenge, where cities compete to see how much they can cut their emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change.

On the line is $100,000 in prize money that will go to cities based on how many people they sign up and how many points they earn in an online tracking system.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

cdc.gov - January 24, 2014

The 2013-2014 National Snapshot of Public Health Preparedness  is the CDC’s fifth preparedness report, demonstrating how federal investments enhance the nation’s ability to respond to public health threats and emergencies. We present activities that occurred during 2012 and 2013 in the framework of CDC’s three priorities. The three priorities are:

- Improving health security at home and around the world

- Better preventing the leading causes of illness, injury, disability, and death

- Strengthening public health through collabora­tion with healthcare